Fifteen Years & Counting

Ultima Online has been on the market for almost 15 years, can you tell us why you think it has such longevity?

Bonnie Armstrong:

Ultima Online is the ultimate Sandbox. We have something for everyone from designing your house from the foundation up to slaying dragons. We are probably the only game on the market that you can still run on a low end computer, in addition to the personal one on one interaction with the players that has forged an amazing community. I personally have played UO since 1997 and worked on it since 1999 and I continue to learn or see something new and entertaining every day.

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MMORPG.com:

When working on the game now, how much of a voice does the Community have in terms of game development and fixes?

Bonnie Armstrong:

I personally love sitting down with the players listening to their ideas for the game. As far as bugs go the players play a large part as to when a bug is fixed.

MMORPG.com:

Tell us about the recent Publish 73.0 what were some of the biggest changes you made to the game?

Bonnie Armstrong:

We have started to revamp the older areas such as the dungeons to encourage players to revisit the dungeon; we have established a new itemized looting system being used in the dungeons. Introducing Arena's into the game to allow people to fight in a controlled area with no fear of getting looted. For changes to the game, this December is the 3rd year of the current EM program. We have worked hard to keep players interested and entertained with our stories.

MMORPG.com:

When doing Publish updates, how do you decide on what gets fixed or upgraded first?

Bonnie Armstrong:

The team is looking to updating a lot of the out of date things in the game, such as the high resolution art, dungeons, quests, and armor, PvP, and may other things. We as a team sit down and figure out what we can do in the time we have for each publish including fixing as many issues as we can in the time allotted.

MMORPG.com:

What would you like to say to true Veterans of the game, to players who still log in consistently?

Bonnie Armstrong:

Let's get together on our 15th birthday and have a party! The players of UO are so dedicated I just want everyone to know how much I have enjoyed working and playing with all of you. Thank you!

MMORPG.com:

What can we expect in the future for Ultima Online?

Bonnie Armstrong:

There will be some fun things going on to celebrate our 15th anniversary! You can expect to see the UO dev team be as passionate and as dedicated as our players, we love the game as much as they do! We will be working hard to keep our players entertained and hopefully around for another 15 years.